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H1Z1: SOE president John Smedley addresses similarities and differences to DayZ, new details

H1Z1 might sound like Sony Online Entertainment is trying to replicate the success of DayZ by ripping off Dean Hall’s sandbox title, but company president John Smedley has addressed those claims and the differences between both games in a new Reddit thread.

On Reddit, Smedley stated that he wasn’t going to bullshit gamers on the issue, and added, “It is a survival in a Zombie Apocalypse game. So is Day Z. [Bohemia Interactive] have made a brilliant game (first I might add). They have a great vision for it and can count myself and most of the people on our team as fans and contributors.

“We’re making the game we’re making. Long term we plan on making this about a persistent world with a big landscape with thousands of players. The way we would like to see this roll out is much more like players building small enclaves or pockets of territory and hold out against a legitimate zombie threat that’s ever present while others go it alone taking their chances.. These player built structures, forts and towns are one of the ways the players try to carve out some small space in a dangerous world.

“We also want to make sure we have a deep in-game economy that is heavily dependent on crafting. Players will be able to become manufacturers.. sell bullets, arrows.. etc. The in-game economy will be entirely player driven.

“So this is our take on the Zombie Apocalypse with a lot of friends and hopefully some great enemies both living and dead. We’re proud to be up front and say we love Day Z and the job they’ve done and we hope they enjoy what we make too.”

Smedley added that H1Z1 will have first and third-person perspectives with vehicles in third-person only. He also wants to see players catching their own food to eat in the short term, and in the long term, growing and protecting their own crops.

In signing off, Smedley concluded, “We’re another Zombie Apocalypse game. Call it what it is. But our goal is to make ours fun, accessible, hard core and super, super deep. As time goes on we hope our take on the end of the world by zombie is fun and lots of people get to try it.

“You’ll also have all the information you need when you start Early Access for $19.99. You can watch others stream it. You can decide to wait till we switch it to Free to Play. Either way you’ll see our roadmap and you’ll see if it’s something that’s for you.”